


Ways to Try to Get to Know Touko Fukawa

by HazeleyeandHermione



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, i really love Naekawa why is it so uncommon, in which Togami is a gigantic douchewad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 21:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1832221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazeleyeandHermione/pseuds/HazeleyeandHermione
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The truth was simple: Touko Fukawa hated herself. She couldn’t find a single positive attribute about her. As a result, Makoto Naegi was going to try his hardest to change that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Plan

The truth was simple: Touko Fukawa hated herself. The author would nitpick at every single feature she had, find every single flaw there was to be found in her small body. As a result, many of the students had followed her lead and hated her too. Makoto Naegi wasn’t one of these students. In fact, he seemed to enjoy her company and smiled when she approached him. Not only did the lucky student not despise her very existence, he seemed to like her.

 _It’s nothing, Touko,_ she told herself. _He’s probably just waiting to prank you. He’s no different than those boys in middle school. What a good time it is for everyone to pick on the ugly girl._ Yet, Naegi had seemed so kind, and it had seemed so genuine. No, she can’t trust anyone. It would just make her an easier target. There was a knock on the door. It was quiet, meek and hesitant. Naegi was the only one who had knocked like that.

Fukawa groaned as she got up to answer the door. What would the good luck student even want anyway? She opened the door to the short boy giving the same goofy grin he always did. “Good morning, Fukawa!” his voice was as cheery and upbeat as ever, although his cheeks seemed tinted with a rosy blush.

“Morning...” the author mumbled just loud enough so he could hear. “What are you doing here anyway, Naegi? I mean, I thought you’d be eating breakfast with everyone now,” it was peculiar for him to visit in the morning. “I’ve already told you... I’m not coming to eat with you guys.”

“Well, I thought it would be at least worth a shot, you know? It’d be nice to have you eat with us, Fukawa. If not, can you at least go to lunch with me later today?” he offered, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, the smile on his face growing.

Fukawa paused for a second to think, her heart filled with a blind hope for a split second before her mind attacked it and tore it to shreds. _He’s just going to stand you up or humiliate you like everyone else does. Let him at least prove he’s serious about this first._ The brunette looked up at him again. “No,” she answered, retreating back.

“No?” Naegi’s face fell slightly. “Why not? I mean, surely you don’t want to be alone and secluded all the time, right?”

“You’re just... you’re just going to trick me... so you can all laugh at how dumb and foolish I am... oldest trick in the book,” she muttered over and over again.

Naegi sighed, and placed a hand on her narrow shoulder. “I promise I’d never do anything like that to you, okay? I mean, is there any way to actually convince you of that?”

A shrug was given to him in response. “I mean... it’s n-not like you c-care enough to try to impress me a-anyway...”

“I do care!” the lucky student beamed up at her. “I want to get to know you, you know? You cut yourself off from everyone, I figured it’d be nice to talk to you.”

Fukawa just replied with a sigh.

The truth was simple: Touko Fukawa hated herself. She couldn’t find a single positive attribute about her. As a result, Makoto Naegi was going to try his hardest to change that.


	2. A Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi figures that the best way to know her is to know her through her books.

“Hey, Togami!” Naegi ran up to the blonde heir, who had tried to quicken his pace as soon as he had heard the boy. His escape efforts however, were futile.

“Naegi, what do you want?” Togami replied, not slowing down any, despite Naegi struggling to catch up. The former was taller and had a much longer stride, add that to the quickened pace and he had the latter jogging beside him.

“So, Fukawa talks to you a lot, right?”

“Unfortunately,” he sighed. Naegi glared slightly, shocked at how cruel he could be to the bookworm. “She’s got this dreadful crush on me and refuses to leave me be so I’m forced to listen. Anyway, why do you want to know?”

“Well, I was hoping to impress her and get to know her better. I mean, I figured you’d know how to do that, Togami,” he gave a weak and awkward smile. “Do you know how to do that?”

Togami sighed and rolled his blue eyes. “I don’t know how to impress her. I’ve never wanted to impress her, so I wouldn’t know. If you really want to know, she’s a romance novelist, I assume she’d put something resembling what she hopes for in a romance in her books. Why don’t you try reading them?”

“That’s a great idea! Thanks, Togami!” Naegi perked up cheerfully as he dashed towards the library. _Surely they’d have the book that one of their own students wrote on the shelves, right? If only I remembered the title... usually they’re sorted by last name of the author..._ he scanned the shelves until he found the name “Fukawa Touko” as the author of a novel titled _Before the Sea’s Scent Fades Away_. The title alone sounded like a stereotypical romance novel lonely women in their twenties and thirties would read, yet a large portion of her readers were teenagers and young adults.

He sat down and started to read, trying to conceal the cover so no one whom walked in knew what he was reading. _They’ll probably think it’s dirty if you act all suspicious. You didn’t even ask how Fukawa would feel if you read her novel._ He knew she would never let him read it, in fear she’s worry he’s make fun of her. Her writing style was genuinely beautiful. She had a way with words that was surely worthy of the Super High School Level Literary Girl. 

The description of the dream man in her books resembled him in no way. This storybook man was tall, muscular, dark, handsome, intelligent, the list went on. Naegi was... average, below average in height and muscular make up. The main quality she mentioned was the fisherman’s smile and gleam in his eye, the confident way he walked and how utterly charming he was. He knew the romance novels were intimate and deep, but he wasn’t expecting her to be that detailed about all of it. Fukawa certainly knew what she was talking about, despite never having a successful relationship... 

“Whatcha readin’, Naegi?” the cheery voice of Aoi Asahina was heard, startling him. “You’re blushing! What is it?”

“Nothing important, really,” he told her, not being the best liar. “Just a book I found on the shelves.”

The swimmer tilted her head, trying to see the cover or some information about it. “Before the Sea’s... you’re covering the rest of it! It sounds familiar... I can’t remember how though,” she paused in deep thought. “Oh! I got it! You’re reading one of Fukawa’s girly romance novels aren’t you?”

Naegi sighed and nodded. “Well, yeah, I wanted to see how good they were. I mean, you have to be pretty successful to go here, unless you’re me. So, I figured I’d read them.”

“Then why now? I thought if you really wanted to, you could’ve read them before,” she responded.

“I don’t know. I just was curious to see is all,” he lied. Naegi was awful at deception, he could feel his cheeks growing redder.

“Do you like Fukawa?” Asahina asked.

Naegi swallowed. How could she just ask it as if it were nothing? I mean, I didn’t think I was obvious about it. “What? N-n-no! I d-don’t like Fukawa.”

Asahina burst out into laughter. “You totally do!” she grinned. “You stuttered and your face is all red! You’re in love with Fukawa!~ Is that why you’re reading her books?”

The luckster nodded. “Y-yeah, I wanted to see how I could impress her. I mean, she isn’t exactly going to open up to me easily, you know.”

“I guess. I think I’m going to go for a swim with Sakura,” the brunette told him before hopping up. “Good luck with Fukawa, Naegi! You’ll need it,” she said before bouncing away cheerily. It wasn’t necessarily hard to figure out what was going on between Asahina and Oogami-- he’d be surprised if not everyone knew already. Well, at least she was doing better with romance than he was at the moment.

He was the best friend. That was what he’d always be. The best friend. Makoto Naegi was not the dream guy of the heroine. No, rather, he was the goofy best friend that was shoved to the side. Just the companion and unable to even compare to the love interest. Fukawa wanted so much more-- and she deserved it as well. But, sometimes, the best friend gets the girl in the end all along, right? It’s happened more than once, there’s a chance it’ll happen again! Emotion bubbled up in Naegi’s core, some sort of beautiful excitement that rushed through him. It illuminated his life.

Okay, he had jotted down notes in her books after reading them. Things that her love interests did that he could feasibly do. Obviously, he couldn’t become some dashingly suave and muscular fisherman. No, that’d be impossible. He’d just have to be charming and confident. A surge of hope rushed through him as he stood up bravely.  
He had fallen. That boy had fallen hard. And when you tumble into affairs of the heart as strong as this was, there was no getting back up.


	3. Persuasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fukawa just wants to talk to someone she can tolerate. Naegi's there to offer some words of advice.

Fukawa sighed, looking for pleasant conversation. The minds of half of the students in this school were empty of any wisdom or intellect. They were simply people the young authoress couldn’t relate to. She wished to talk in depth about philosophical wonderings or some other topic than what was normally heard around the cafeteria. _This is why you can’t make friends, Touko. You expect too much out of people_ , she reprimanded herself. No matter how much intellect she had, she was admittedly bad at communication. She was too short-tempered and intolerable of her peers. She decided to get over it and try to spark up conversation with the next person she could.

Fukawa had sat in her usual spot in the library, scribbling down some plot ideas in her notebook. The page was mostly blank; inspiration was a fickle friend. She looked up from her page and groaned. She simply couldn’t find anything to write. Her eyes became focused on the sunlight pouring from the windows, which soon shone onto something of a soft bronze color. Makoto sat in the spot across from her, a paper coffee cup in one hand, an open book in another. The writer hadn’t taken time to notice before, but Naegi was almost always there and sitting in the same seat, across from Fukawa.

Her face flushed slightly as she found herself staring a little longer than intended. Fumbling slightly, the scrawny girl started scribbling in her notebook again. There was nothing in the markings she was making, it was just to make it look like she was doing something productive. Staring at the lucky boy was not a productive move. She decided that Naegi was someone she wouldn’t mind conversing with, even befriending if it was an option. She only had one problem, how does one initiate conversation?

 _Just stop being an antisocial outcast and do it,_ she told herself. Naegi would definitely be one of the least likely people to make fun of her for anything. He was kindhearted and sweet, two qualities many people took advantage of. She took a deep, slow breath and began to speak.

“H-hello,” Fukawa stammered. _Wow, don’t you sound intellectual? Nice going, Touko_ , she remarked. She couldn’t help speaking without a stammer.

“Oh, hi, Fukawa!” Naegi smiled widely at her. His face was aglow with warmth and joy. Fukawa couldn’t help but feel envious of how carefree and happy-go-lucky he seemed with life. It was a rare trait and something completely foreign to the authoress. “How are you today?”

Fukawa nervously played with her dark purple, slightly greasy braids. “I g-guess I’m fine, j-just a little stumped on w-what to write is a-all…” she murmured. “W-what are you reading? Y-you seemed r-really into it.”

Naegi let out a small chuckle. “It’s nothing, really. Just a novel I’ve been reading lately. It probably wouldn’t interest you. I mean, I think you have better taste than I do in books,” he tried to sneak the book back into his bag as nonchalantly as possible, but he was unsuccessful. Fukawa immediately recognized the cover and blushed.

“W-what are you d-doing reading that? It’s g-garbage, honestly! B-besides, I w-wouldn’t expect a boy like y-you to be interested in r-reading vulgar, emotional m-mush and cliché romance trash like t-that anyway…” Fukawa snapped. That was _her_ novel. He was reading her writing and seemed rather into it as well.

Naegi nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would upset you if I read it,” he nervously scratched the back of his head. “You’re a really good writer! I like it a lot! You really have a way with words,” the luckster told her with a giggle that made her smile softly.

 “M-my writing is m-mediocre a-at best. I d-don’t deserve to b-be here, in all honesty,” she told him with a sad smile. “I’m n-nothing like those t-that shape the w-world with their prose. I w-want m-my writing to h-have a life changing e-effect on people. I w-want it to contribute t-to the p-progression of s-society, but instead I w-write lovey-dovey garbage.”

Naegi took a sip of his coffee and nodded. “I understand what you’re saying, Fukawa, but you have that ability. I mean, your romance novels made a certain profession more attractive! You obviously have the power of persuasion with your words, and that’s something that not a lot of people have! That’s what makes you such a great writer, Fukawa,” Naegi’s grin only grew as he spoke, which made Fukawa feel an odd swirling in the pits of her stomach.

Kind words usually didn’t have such a strong effect on the authoress. His words made perfect sense to her, and that’s what gave her some inkling of hope. His optimism was annoyingly contagious, and he gave her some sort of meaning in her writing. “Y-you really think so? I m-mean, I w-wish what you were saying was true, but if I can c-change the world with my books, why haven’t I?”

Naegi paused in thought for a second, before lighting up again. “Maybe you just haven’t been writing enough. I mean, writing takes a lot of time! You’ve just got to keep on writing and you’ll find that one book that changes the world! I believe in you, Fukawa!”

“Y-you sound l-like one of those c-cheesy m-motivational s-speakers,” she teased. “Only, I t-think you’re a b-bit more persuasive. And y-you actually s-seem to have a head on y-your shoulders. T-talking to you is nice.”

Naegi flashed a small smile. “Maybe that could be my talent! Super High School Level Cheesy Motivational Speaker! I could make a fortune, what do you say?” he winked one of his pale hazel eyes and laughed. The more often he chuckled, the more songlike it became. He was a ray of sunshine transformed into a small boy who wore his heart on his sleeve.

Fukawa nodded softly, allowing herself to give a genuine smile. “You c-could do that. I mean, y-you’ve got that p-persistently hopeful attitude. You c-could get p-paid well. I m-mean, I lacked inspiration, but you m-may have just motivated me to put my pen to paper again. It might n-not be worth anything, but it’s what I c-can do. B-but, you shouldn’t p-pat yourself on the back just y-yet. I m-mean, it may be g-garbage, y-you’re just persuasive and a bit of an intellectual.”

Naegi shook his head. “If you wrote it, it can’t be garbage! Whatever you write is always fantastic; it’s why you’re a prodigy!” he told her, before getting on a different note. His demeanor quickly changed, and it seemed he was almost diffident. “You said I was persuasive?”

Fukawa nodded in response, wondering what made him fumble over himself like a dork. His flustered behavior was adorable, although the writer couldn’t help but be confused at his sudden behavior.

 “Could I persuade you to let me take you dinner tomorrow night? Only if you want, of course,” Naegi was laughing through his words. It was a goofy, nervous laugh that matched the awkwardness of his phrasing.

Naegi was nice to have a conversation with. He was perhaps the only person able to communicate efficiently with the girl and understand her viewpoints on things. With a nervous, apprehensive expression on her face, Fukawa twiddled her thumbs and mumbled a soft, “I would love to.”

She feared that this was going to be another trick played on her, that someone dared her to do it. But the boy was sweet and charming and he made her flutter a bit. She still prepared herself for rejection, for that was always meant to be expected.


End file.
